More than 100 New York Army National Guard members returned home to Buffalo on Veterans Day after completing a nine-month deployment in Africa, creating an emotional reunion scene outside the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
The 152nd Engineer Battalion soldiers returned Tuesday evening after serving as part of a combined joint task force in the Horn of Africa, including Kenya and Somalia.
About 145 Buffalo-based members of the unit were greeted by family and friends who had been waiting anxiously at the airport.
The moment the soldiers emerged, loved ones rushed to embrace them after months of separation.
“So overwhelming, so exciting. I feel like he’s been gone for a while, so it’s just, like, so exciting,” cried Margaret Dunning of Rochester, who waited for her fiancé Nicholas.
The couple got engaged before he deployed and plans to marry next August…